Facility Would Have Violated State Law
The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) and the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) are elated that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has canceled the process to build a new privately-operated immigration detention facility in Dwight, Illinois. ICE was still working on the Dwight plan even though the General Assembly passed and Governor Pritzker signed the Private Detention Facility Moratorium Act in 2019 to block for-profit detention centers from being built and operated in our state. Thanks to the leadership of the bill’s sponsors, Rep. Kelly Cassidy and Sen. Robert Peters, who spoke up forcefully in response to ICE’s continuing movement on the Dwight bid, ICE has received the message and ended the process.
Our organizations will continue to fight to hold DHS and ICE accountable, to stop the harms they are inflicting and the fear they are creating in our communities, and to make Illinois welcoming for all.
The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights is a statewide coalition of more than 100 organizations dedicated to promoting the rights of immigrants and refugees to full and equal participation in the civic, cultural, social, and political life of our diverse society. For more information, visit www.icirr.org.
The National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) is a nongovernmental organization dedicated to ensuring human rights protections and access to justice for all immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers through a unique combination of direct services, policy reform, impact litigation, and public education. Visit immigrantjustice.org and follow @NIJC on Twitter.